SAN JOSE / First plan for soccer stadium bites dust / Earthquakes team could be reborn if arena is built by '09

Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Monday, April 30, 2007

Photo: Penni Gladstone

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The Chronicle Editorial board meets with Lewis Wolff, part owner of the Oakland A's.Photo by Penni Gladstone/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/10/06, in San Francisco, CA. Ran on: 01-22-2006 Ran on: 03-09-2007
Lew Wolff hopes a deal with San Jose State to build a soccer stadium on campus will be completed &quo;within the next few months.&quo;
Ran on: 03-09-2007 less

WOLFF07_025_PG.JPG
The Chronicle Editorial board meets with Lewis Wolff, part owner of the Oakland A's.Photo by Penni Gladstone/The San Francisco Chronicle
Photo taken on 1/10/06, in San Francisco, CA. Ran ... more

Photo: Penni Gladstone

SAN JOSE / First plan for soccer stadium bites dust / Earthquakes team could be reborn if arena is built by '09

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Developer Lew Wolff said he doesn't know why San Jose State University pulled out of negotiations to build a professional soccer stadium, though a university spokesman said the school wanted more money out of the deal than Wolff was willing to guarantee.

Wolff, who also is an owner of the Oakland A's, approached the school last year with a proposal to build a stadium for the defunct Earthquakes soccer team next to Spartan Stadium, the team's home on the university's South Campus.

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San Jose State President Don Kassing wanted the school to get at least $6 million a year out of a stadium deal in combined base rent and shares of other revenues, Carr said.

"They just fundamentally couldn't reach an economic deal that worked for both entities," Carr said.

Kassing was not available for comment.

Major League Soccer moved the Earthquakes players to Houston in 2005 but left the team's name in San Jose. Wolff and the other owners of the Oakland Athletics hold an exclusive option to create a new Earthquakes team in the Bay Area. That option, which expires in 2009, is contingent on getting a new stadium built.

Wolff also is trying to build a new stadium for the A's in Fremont.

Kassing and Wolff agreed to halt negotiations last week after meeting four times, Wolff said last week. But he insisted Kassing never told him money was the problem or said why he soured on building a new stadium.

"He wasn't comfortable in moving ahead," Wolff said. "I didn't really probe him for any specifics. He didn't offer a lot of them. It had nothing to do with guaranteeing revenue.

"I made it very clear from the very beginning that such a guarantee was not in the cards," Wolff added.

He said he is "still looking hard at a couple of sites in San Jose in cooperation with the city" in hopes of finding a home for a new Earthquakes team.

Wolff had hoped to fund construction of a stadium at San Jose State with the $90 million in profits he believes he will reap if the city of San Jose agrees to rezone 75 acres near State Route 85 and Highway 101 where he plans to build 1,500 homes.

The land, which is owned by a limited liability company called iStar San Jose LLC, is currently zoned for 1 million square feet of office and research and development space and 450,000 square feet of retail, said Paul Krutko, San Jose's chief development officer.

Wolff would not say what steps he'll take now in his search for a place to build a stadium or whether he is looking to use any other publicly owned land, though he said he is continuing to look at sites with city officials.

Any subsidy from the city, whether in cash or in the form of the use of low-cost land, must go to a vote under city law, and Wolff doesn't want to deal with a ballot measure, Krutko said.

If the San Jose State deal had gone through, the school would have gotten a free 23,000-seat facility that could be upgraded to 30,000 seats. But it would have lost access to much of its 64-acre South Campus, now mainly sports fields, during construction and later during events ranging from soccer to concerts, Carr said.

"There was going to be a lot of usage," Carr said. "It's not just about the stadium itself."

But a new stadium would have pleased Brian Holmes, owner of a soccer equipment store in Sunnyvale, who said Spartan Stadium is aging and dingy and offers bad sight lines.

"Everybody complains about it," he said. "The bathrooms are very poor."

Don Gagliardi, president of the Soccer Silicon Valley booster group, was disappointed by the university's position but said Wolff has other ideas that could work.

"We believe it when he wants to go forward," Gagliardi said. "We've known for some while that there has been a Plan B. There has been a Plan B all along."